"Tonight, the arena is sold out. A dozen shades of gray will square off in a pageantry of war. The opponents are unlikely in the real world, but in the amphitheater of our imagination, they're well matched. The punk rockers note in reference to the Headbangers, whose gimmick was actually based on Heavy Metal will battle the mountain men.note in reference to the Harris twinsThe black separatists will fight the post-apocalyptic warriors. The gang-banger will rumble with the aristocrat. The futurenote "The future" is represented by an indeterminate shadowy wrestler silhouetted by laser lighting will struggle with the past, and the living will duel with the dead. In the end, just like a good Soap Opera, no issues will be resolved; the story is "To Be Continued". The combatants will live to fight another night, in another town. Is wrestling fake? Absolutely. It's as fake as your imagination, as phony as your daydreams."

—Steve Allen, The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling

Professional Wrestling, as the term is understood today, is a cooperative endeavor in which athletes face off in loosely choreographed matches with pre-determined outcomes, in a manner resembling a type of freestyle combat loosely based on Greco-Roman wrestling, amateur/Olympic wrestling, and (since the 1990s) Mixed Martial Arts (which themselves grew partially out of pro wrestling). Modern professional wrestling derived from Catch Wrestling, a grappling style developed by carnival promoters in late 19th century Britain, which soon gained popularity in America as a legitimate form of athletic competition. By the early years of the 20th centurynote It's impossible to know exactly when wrestling started being worked because of the highly secretive nature of kayfabe in the early years; Frank Gotch, who was world champion from 1908 to 1913, is generally considered to have won and defended his title legitimately, while other sources suggest fights had been rigged as early as 1870, and worked matches devolving into legitimate fights were a common occurrence as late as the 1970s, the sport had evolved into a "work" where the winners of bouts were determined ahead of time by the tvtropess.organizers. From this arrangement, a system gradually evolved of numerous territorial wrestling leagues across the US, cooperating under the auspices of the National Wrestling Alliance (which WWE, WCW, ECW, and almost every major promotion in North American and some outside of it were affiliated with at one point), which sponsored the world championship and other titles, picked the champions, and arranged for the top talent from the territories to go on tour and gain national exposure. In 1963 the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, once the NWA's New England territory, split from the group, rechristened itself the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (later the WWF/WWE), and over the following decades expanded on a national scale to create the wrestling industry as it exists today.

Pro wrestling is usually full of concepts from different types of shows. Each match is roughly choreographed (though not usually in much detail since wrestlers don't have much rehearsal time, let alone for whole matches, given that they wrestle twenty to twenty-eight days per month on average—most of a match's details will be improvised, with only the beginning, the end, and few key "spots" in between specifically planned; the mark of a good wrestler is being able to make match flow naturally despite the lack of more than a rough outline of the plan). World Wrestling Entertainment's programs remind one of nothing so much as a Soap Opera for guys, complete with all the emotion, melodrama, and occasional comic relief that the phrase implies. Other tvtropess.organizations, such as Ring of Honor, strive for a more gritty, realistic presentation, but still incorporate many soap opera elements.

The history of pro wrestling is a bit convoluted; until the late '80s/early '90s, promoters claimed that wrestling was a legitimate sport, and attempted to hide the fact that it was scripted at all costs. The truth is the performances are as ritualistic and stylized as Japanese kabuki theatre, or Commedia dell'Arte: each match is a miniature set piece, using stock characters, "plots" and "twists". This has become more obvious in recent years with the increased sense of theatre provided by the major promoters and programs. As more and more wrestling fans grew wise to the fact that wrestling was scripted and choreographed, promoters had no choice but to reveal the secret that everybody already knew by that point anyway. Vince McMahon went so far as to televise a speech on an episode of Monday Night Raw, in which he promised to "stop insulting (fans') intelligence" and referred to Raw as an "action-adventure" series.

All wrestling tvtropess.organizations will have a "booker", or person who decides which wrestlers are going over on any given "card" or event. The larger wrestling tvtropess.organizations will have full booking teams, made of bookers (who help wrestlers lay out the matches) and scriptwriters (who tell the bookers the companies' long-term goals with the storylines). These are often called the "creative teams", or simply just "creative" (as in "Creative has no ideas for your character at the moment"). Booking wrestling matches and storylines is a difficult skill; most of the boom times for wrestling can largely be accounted for through good booking of matches. Poor booking can be disastrous: WCW was literally destroyed through terrible creative decisions, first under the stewardship of Vince Russo and a few others, then through WWE's terrible "Invasion" vanity trip.

However, as many Sitcom plots (and Botchamania) have implied, Professional Wrestling is very real in the sense that mistimed inexperience can leave someone seriously injured. Professional wrestlers are like stuntmen; they're acting out a scene, but physically, and with the chance of injury, not to mention they get no second takes. And despite whatever you may have heard, they do hit each other, although their moves are generally designed to seem much more devastating than they are, and they avoid harm whenever they feasibly can without it looking too obvious. A professional wrestler literally puts his life in his opponent's hands several times in a single match; the slightest misstep could result in a broken bone, a broken neck, paralysis, possibly even death. Don't Try This at Home.

If you see an unfamiliar name, it's very likely that it is a famous wrestler's real name or earlier persona. It's easier to just use the search function at the other wiki rather than try to use a list. As a general rule, the wrestler's most famous persona will be used instead of their real name, although different fans will have a different opinion as to which persona was the most famous, and then to add to the confusion, WWE has the annoying habit of trademarking a wrestler's name so that the wrestler can't use it after they leave the promotion.

Now has a Useful Notes page that attempts to debunk the nasty stereotypes about the business. Not that it will work. In case you are interested in the times in which professional wrestling was a legitimately competitive sport, see the catch wrestling Useful Notes page.

Thanks to the various wrestling related Tropes that have been named, it now has its own page.

The cliche is true. Old wrestlers never retire. Even if they're not that personally invested in wrestling, even if their knees turn to powder, even if have a profitable side-venture going, they'll be back. Every time.

"Retirement" matches in professional wrestling rarely stick. (See the 1001 "firings" or "retirements" in the last few years. It's done purely for storyline purposes; the number of times people "retire" and are back the next week is ridiculous.) Furthermore, declarations of retirement often give way to part time work in the business part time or otherwise become less extensive than initially suggested more times than not. (Sometimes for money reason, sometimes just for the love athletes have for their sport). Triple H is a sterling example of juggling both roles.

Acceptable Breaks from Reality: None of the televised wrestling matches seem to end when the show goes to commercial. But if they did, it would be really aggravating. This started out as a common tactic of the Southern promotions: "We'll keep the tape machines rolling, and if this match finishes while we're in commercial, you'll see what happened!" The few exceptions to this trope are:

It happened on an early edition of WWF Raw when Mr. Perfect beat Rick Martel during a commercial break. They quickly replayed the finish when the show resumed.

It also happened on a 2011 episode of SmackDown when Mark Henry was legitimately injured during a match and they had to improvise a countout finish.

Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro during an ad break in 2014 as part of promoting the WWE Network. Only people watching the live stream saw the finish of the match.

Anti-Hero: Professional Wrestling thrives on these type of heroes, as the very nature of the show requires even the most idealistic to pound someone into a gooey paste for a living. Plus, if a woman dumps a man and betrays his trust, the audience will often demand physical retribution from the wronged hero.

Ask a Stupid Question...: It's quite common that wrestlers, usually the heels, will insult or intimidate interviewers for asking obvious questions.

With non-televised events (often known as "house shows"), a B-Show roster is comprised of middle- and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion, and can sometimes include well-known wrestlers making a comeback, finishing a career or making a special appearance. These shows will perform either in smaller markets ?often, new ones being tested ?or in established markets on the same night that the A-Show roster is performing in another market. Secondary individual title matches, or sometimes matches for the tag team titles, are often considered the main event, although sometimes the flagship title is contested between the champion and a challenger who normally may not receive this opportunity on an A-Show. These shows often have a unique experience and flow to them, and very often B-Show wrestlers are able to develop their skills enough to be promoted to the A-Show.

Xplosion to Impact, Thunder to Nitro. People often cite SmackDown as a B-Show compared to Raw, but it's more like a second A-Show in terms of this trope.

When ECW was brought back as a WWE television brand it was almost a middle ground of this trope. It had its own storylines and World title and was considered an actual brand that is given PPV time, but its main purpose was to get talent ready for the A shows by giving them television experience and having them work with seasoned veterans such as William Regal, Tommy Dreamer, Finlay, etc., a context now given to WWE Developmental Program WWE NXT in Florida.

Velocity and Heat were B Shows to SmackDown and Raw respectively.

Main Event and Superstars are both considered the B show to both SmackDown and Raw. NXT could be thrown in there too, even though these days it's a show for their developmental talent.

Back in the day, WWF Wrestling Challenge was considered the B show to WWF Superstars of Wrestling, in that most of the major angles began on and title changes were aired on Superstars, although Challenge would always air noteworthy segments.

Backyard Wrestling: A profession not widely respected among traditional promotions but many of wrestling's biggest stars started out this way, such as The Hardy Boys. More literally, some "falls count anywhere" matches have ended up in actual backyards.

This trope was used once when Chyna was wrestling Road Dogg and he wore a cup.

Part of indy wrestler The Human Tornado's gimmick was that he absolutely no-sold all groin shots - in fact it was more likely that his opponent would hurt him/herself trying one.

Azusa Kudo, of FMW, was able to shrug off any and all groin shots due to his gimmick being a post-op transsexual.

Bears are Bad News: "The wrestling bear" gimmick goes back to at least the 1930s with Ginger. Usually the matches are actually against the bear's trainer, who will use the bear to threaten the heels who mess with him, but some men such as Willie Williams and Kamala actually did wrestle the animal itself. Williams won.

Beauty Is Bad: Female wrestlers who are pretty usually have to work extra hard to prove themselves as wrestlers and even then they will get hated purely because they are pretty. God help them if they have ever done even a bit of modelling. Women wrestlers who aren't conventionally beautiful usually get a free pass and are considered wrestlers regardless of whatever experience they have.note One example of this, combined with having passable ring skills in comparison with her peers at the time of her debut, is Tamina Snuka, though she eventually lost support, especially after more talented female wrestlers debuted. This can sometimes cross over into the men's divisions with the guys getting called "gay" and "pretty boys".

Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Used to varying degrees with female wrestlers. WWE and TNA's women never bleed on purpose, by contrast women in Japanese feds brutalise each other just as much as the men, even in the more mainstream promotions like AJW. Averted occasionally, particularly in 2002-03 in WWE where there were a lot of women's hardcore matches and the likes of Victoria and Trish Stratus bled quite a lot. TNA averted it some times, having Roxxi bleed out constantly in her matches (to the point of being nicknamed "The Hardcore Knockout"), and having a First Blood Match in 2010 between Daffney and Tara, though only somewhat in the latter, because at the conclusion of that match there was only a tiny trickle of blood. For reference's sake, here's what Japanese women's pro wrestling looks like. Brutal.

Big "WHAT?!": Originated in WWE (WHAT?!) by Stone Cold Steve Austin (WHAT?!), this has become a fan chant (WHAT?!) at WWE events. (WHAT?!)

Most face/heel rivalries in Professional Wrestling play out like this, with most of the drama centered around the heel cheating and tricking his way to victory against a more powerful and/or skilled babyface. Whereas a heel who's legitimately skilled gets cheered a lot of the time, the heel still gets booed because the fans know he doesn't "deserve" to keep winning and are waiting until he finally gets demolished. Monster heels are an exception to this tendency, and instead gain heat by using excessive force and putting faces out of commission through brute strength.

Triple H is a perfect example of both. As a heel, he can't win a match clean to save his life, yet as a face, all he needs are his fists and maybe a sledgehammer in order to take out his opponents.

A variant specific to tag team matches, and forming the standard psychology for most of them: The heel team is more skilled at actual tag team wrestling, isolating one face and utilizing numerous (often illegal) tag team maneuvers. This builds tension for the Hot Tag, whereupon the fresh babyface finally tags in and demolishes the heels singlehandedly.

Breakup Breakout: Though the USA, WWE in particular, is notorious for its attempts to invoke this trope often backfiring.

C-List Fodder: Despite this trope involving almost exclusively lower-tier stars of a promotion, it's not as bad as one might think it may be. Often, these shows are run in smaller (or new) markets, are almost always anchored by one or two bigger-name stars (to draw fan interest and guide the younger wrestlers), and provide opportunities for the lower-rung wrestlers to work and improve skills. Secondary and tag team titles are often contested, often with lower-tier wrestlers getting opportunities they would never get on the A Show, as are unique stipulation matches. Matches against local talent are often contested as well. And the cameras may be rolling, as to capture an unexpected storyline development or title change but more often than not to allow promoters and trainers a chance to evaluate their wrestlers and use it as a learning tool. With all of this in mind, being "C-List Fodder" isn't always a bad thing.

Whether from a single catastrophic injury or years of wear and tear, a wrestler's retirement is almost inevitably due to one of these: Hayabusa (botched springboard moonsault into a broken neck), Darren Drozdov (botched running powerbomb into a broken neck), "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (botched piledriver into a broken neck), Ted DiBiase (neck injury), Bret Hart (multiple concussions), the list is almost endless.

While real-life career-ending injuries frequently happen, the use of "career-ending" injuries is sometimes used in kayfabe, often to build drama with the involved wrestlers. If such is the case, it will be to allow the wrestlers time off - often to heal from actual injuries or to simply take time off. One example is Ricky Steamboat, who suffered a "career-ending injury" in late 1986 as part of his feud with Randy Savage.

Cat Fight: Apartment wrestling is the major reason why the term cat fight is associated with comedy and Fanservice, to the point "apartment wrestling" redirects to "cat fight" on That Other Wiki. It began in the 1950s when television became more widespread and bored housewives watching it began imitating pro wrestlers in the privacy of their own rooms. Presumably bedroom/living room wrestling wasn't as catchy, though it literally became apartment wrestling in the 1970s when The Fabulous Moolah began renting rooms to take pictures of her students applying holds on each other for Bill Apter's magazines, inspiring a short lived but full fledged "apartment circuit". To this day there remain fans in the US who are happy if they see a women's match degenerate into hair pulling and screaming.

Catch-Phrase: Some wrestlers can keep a crowd engaged for nearly half an hour on nothing but catchphrases alone. Sometimes the crowd almost seems to force a catchphrase on a wrestler. Some wrestlers, like Vickie Guerrero only have one catchphrase; some, like Daniel Bryan have multiple catchphrases but one completely overshadows the rest, while others like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin have many equally well-known catchphrases. Many wrestlers, such as Ron Simmons and the aformentioned Daniel Bryan, are more known for their catchphrase than anything else about them. And then there's The Rock, a man with so much freaking charisma that literally anything that comes out of his mouth has a 50/50 shot of inspiring the crowd to immediately start chanting it, and then within a week it's on a t-shirt and that line goes into his seemingly endless repertoire of popular catchphrases.

Caustic Critic: In the English market at least, the Holy Trinity are Bad Wrestlers Exposed, You Are Not Getting Booked and The World Famous Flea Market. However, the most caustic critic is probably original Four Horseman and surly heel extraordinaire Ole Anderson, though he doesn't actively seek out platforms to voice his opinions. Bryan Alvarez of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is a particularly long running example, although less infamous due to his parody program Figure Four Online Weekly giving way to actual journalism, negativity not being the main purpose of his outings and being overshadowed by the much more placid Dave Meltzer (who ironically enough, is a favorite target of Anderson, despite Meltzer giving him a platform). Despite the name WrestleCrap usually doesn't veer into this territory.

Sadly, this is starting to become true as of late, as professional wrestlers nowadays seem to have very short lifespans: an enlarged heart, fibromyalgia, prescription pill and cocaine addiction, PCS, neck, back and knee surgeries all contribute to wrestlers in their forties having the bodies of 70-year-olds. Hence why many of the greats from the 1980s have already departed.

Wrestling has had a number of high-profile deaths that seem to come out of nowhere, most notably Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Certainly fans are now conditioned to expect any wrestler to die at any time.

Not to mention the fact that accidents can happen when stunts are performed in a ridiculously unsafe manner, as Owen Hart tragically showed.

To their credit, WWE has worked hard in making their company more safe, from eliminating chair shots to the head (which wrestlers like Shelton Benjamin have stated can cause headaches for up to a week) to a stricter drug policy. According to WWE themselves, Triple H and The Undertaker (two of their biggest names) were both fined after Triple H hit 'Taker in the head with a chair during their match at WrestleMania XXVII. To put this in perspective, at the time of that event, Triple H was an executive vice president in the company as well as the son-in-law of the owner while Undertaker was their most veteran performer with among the largest amounts of influence, and they were competing in Undertaker's biggest storyline match (and about his only one left!) every year — The Pursuit To End The Streak. So they took the health of their performers so seriously, they were willing to fine people that would be otherwise untouchable and who they would otherwise be adverse to insulting.

After the passing of Randy Savage, a report was put out that showed over 25% of performers from WrestleMania VII in 1991 were dead. At 58, Randy Savage had lived over 10 years longer than the other deceased.

Happens to women often when promoted from an independent promotion to a major one and or because of a poorly-executed gimmick change.

Chyna started in the WWF looking very manly, and could hold her own with male wrestlers such as Kane, X-Pac, and Chris Jericho. Over the years, she had more and more surgery to make herself look more feminine and moved towards fighting women. She later left the wrestling business and made a living as a porn actress, which is just too telling. She was apparently trying to mend fences with WWE when she died in 2016.

The women's division itself in WWE at one point went through this. Many members of the female roster weren't actual trained wrestlers, but rather models/actresses who then became wrestlers, and, as a result, were rarely the best in-ring performers (Trish Stratus is known for averting this). In the 2010s, though, (especially during the 2015 "Divas Revolution"), WWE appears to be averting the trope. In mid-late 2015, there have been many shows with multiple Divas matches, whereas at one point, the company could go multiple shows with no Divas matches.

Comically Missing the Point: People who run around insisting the professional wrestling is fake. Actually, this is only comical some of the time, as it can really piss off professional wrestlers to hear this. Professional wrestling is not fake, it's entertainment. There's a world of difference, and to enjoy professional wrestling requires Willing Suspension of Disbelief just the same way no one actually thinks Arnold is an unstoppable android from the future or that Tom Cruise really flies F-14's. The training and preparation professional wrestlers have to do is very real, as are the injuries they suffer. All this because they love it and want to put on a good show for the fans.

The Consigliere: Managers, while reluctant to actually set foot in the ring (usually), act as hypemen and ringside plants. Unfailingly cowardly, they will either interfere in matches or jeer the babyfaces from the safety of the commentator table.

Cool Old Guy: Any wrestler who's in their late 40s or older, but can still kick ass and take a beating. Embodied by the one and only Funker himself, Terry Funk.

The technical term for this in pro wrestling circles is a "squash match". Not nearly as common nowdays as it was in the 80's, when most televised matches consisted of a star wrestler pitted against a hopeless "jobber"/"enhancement talent" who would be destroyed in a matter of minutes without offering any offence at all. Still occasionally happens in modern times, especially if a wrestler is being given a "Goldberg push."

Perhaps the two biggest examples are WrestleMania I where King Kong Bundy beat SD Jones in 27 seconds (although the announcers said the match ended in under 10) and SummerSlam 1988 where Ultimate Warrior defeated The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship in under 2 minutes to end a 15 month championship reign.

The difference here is that a wrestler can be curbstomped and still "win", such as when Batista totaled Chris Benoit on Monday Night Raw but was disqualified for refusing to relent while Benoit was tied up in the ropes or Paul Burchil's literal curb stomping of Mr. Kennedy. They do not lose as much credibility this way and at times makes the curbstomper look incompetent for ultimately being unable to do their job (win matches) correctly.

Cutscene Power to the Max: When a wrestler performs a finisher during a match, it isn't always enough to end it despite the beating their opponent may have already taken beforehand, yet if a wrestler performs a finisher outside of a match the victim often stays down for a very long time.

Random shifts in alignment can also cause this. The theme of "a wrestler well-respected by fans who would honestly prefer to cheer someone who does high risk moves than boo them" would become a staple of the Sports Entertainment genre.

Whether or not Bill Goldberg has ever been pinned cleanly is up for debate (mostly due to the issue of semantics regarding the word "cleanly").

The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Started at WrestleMania VII and went to XXX.

Dented Iron: As careers progress, the pads and ring gear get switched out from models designed to cushion to those that squeeze nerves and muscles in ways that make functioning with damaged parts still possible.

Does This Remind You of Anything?: In August 2017, Natalya condemned Naomi for, among other things, turning the SmackDown Women's Championship belt into "a toy" (Naomi had flashing lights added to it upon winning the title, as part of her "Feel the Glow" gimmick). This seems very similar to what many people said about John Cena's WWE Championship "spinner" belt, but the latter was never brought up in kayfabe.

Do Not Call Me "Paul": Triple H and the Big Show have both said this to fans that have called them by their birth names. If you meet a wrestler, it is considered proper etiquette to address them by their ring name. According to some sources, this even applies to new wrestlers— if Undertaker introduces himself to you and says "I'm The Undertaker," don't call him "Mark" or "Calaway," call him "Undertaker."

Double Standard: Many, usually invoked by heels, such as the "Piggie James" angle. People were outraged at Michelle and Layla making fun of Mickie's weight and anyone who called Mickie overweight on the IWC was immediately vilified. Yet many people started cruelly calling Michelle "Skeletor" on the internet and calling her underfed and a stick insect. Anorexia can be just as lethal as obesity and Michelle has struggled with anorexia in the past.

Draco in Leather Pants: The pro wrestling term for this trope is called "Popular Heel". CM Punk, The Road Warriors, Chris Jericho, and on and on and on... some wrestlers are so good at what they do that their villainous actions are ignored, and the crowd cheers for them anyway.

Early Installment Weirdness: Most wrestlers go through several looks or gimmicks before hitting superstardom. A select few are so dramatically different it's hard to believe they're the same person. See Scott Hall's Hulk-like physique and mustache in AWA, or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's long blond hair in World Class Championship Wrestling.

Easily Distracted Referee: It is a job requirement for any referee in pro-wrestling to be easily distracted, and exacerbating the circumstance is that a referee will rarely make a call based on something he didn't see (even if he's detained with one wrestler in a one-on-one match, there's a sound of steel hitting flesh somewhere behind him, and suddenly the other wrestler is unconscious— Eddie Guerrero would take advantage of this fact many times during his career).

Engrish: Japanese promotion names such as Wrestle And Romance (later Wrestle Association R) and Big Mouth Loud. American wrestlers/promoters/reporters who never learned Japanese often find themselves speaking in broken English when they're with Japanese wrestlers.

Finishing Move: The finisher is a one-time only move, usually exclusive to that wrestler (unless inherited or stolen from somebody else in kayfabe) which usually lays out the opponent in one shot. We say usually, as kickouts are known to happen.

Foreign Wrestling Heel: Known to fans as "Evil Foreigners" and not all evil foreigners are heels, Kaientai turning face but still being evil.

An old gimmick of Kevin Nash was "Vinnie Vegas," a fast talking conman and gambler. His finisher (now used as one of The Undertaker's Five Moves of Doom) was "Snake Eyes" (dropping your opponent face-first onto a turnbuckle).

Game-Breaking Injury: Submission artists employ this tactic all the time. They will use a variety of locks and holds that target a specific part of the human body until their opponent can no longer make use of the limb in question.

In the USA, the major promotions treat their talent as "free agents" and so can fire and hire them much easier than most other employers (though they often get away with working these "free agents" just as hard as any employee).

Also true In-Universe. Some wrestling characters have been "fired" in kayfabe and rehired several times ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin is probably the best example— he's been arrested on WWE television many times). Even if the storyline is that they are absolutely and permanently fired, there's a pretty good chance it's not going to be their last match or appearance.

Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The Great Khali, for all his poor wrestling ability, was massively popular in his home land of India. He managed to draw 60,000 people to what were basically showcases for CWE students he represented.

Generally played straight, although occasionally subverted. Batista, who turned face when he heard his stablemates plotting against him and who displayed above average keenness as a face, is the biggest of those (Triple H even told Flair, during said plotting, that Batista isn't very smart).

The most egregious example of this is Sting, who is commonly referred to as "The dumbest man in wrestling." Although, he's averted it mightily over his years in TNA.

Hello, Nurse!: The main purpose of valets was distracting referees at first but they later became more physically involved in matches.

Hope Spot: Spot being a professional wrestling term, there is bound to be at least one of these on any given wrestling show. Oh sure, we known Kurt Angle is unlikely to lose to Eugene since he's already been announced to be in an upcoming match against WWE Champion John Cena, posters and pre-orders all ready but that doesn't mean Eugene is not going to get any two counts before it's over.

Hot-Blooded: The exception here for a long time were the Japanese fans, known for politely sitting with their hands clasped and maybe giving light applause every now and then, unless your were Inoki, Chigusa or something. The wrestlers by consequence tended to scream and sell more than elsewhere to make up the difference.

How Much More Can He Take?: It's generally agreed that "legit" professional wrestling matches started to fall out of favor in 1876 after a Collar and Elbow style match between Jacob H Martin and James Hiram McLaughlin went on for six hours without a decisive winner at Whitney's Opera House in Detroit, Michigan on June 29th of that year. By working matches, you could keep long matches interesting and ensure they never went on that long without depriving anyone a winner.

Ho Yay: While virtually everything about wrestling is this, special mention should go to old video packages meant to showcase tag teams to female audiences.

I Have the High Ground: High fliers often use the ropes to propel themselves into some pretty awesome moves. In Mexico, the Volador legacy gimmick came about by comparing an ancient Mesoamerican dance atop a pillar with ropes to stop people diving off from killing themselves, to luchadors standing atop ring post supported ropes.

Incoming Ham: Any wrestler with entrance music. Bonus points if that music opens with said wrestler's catch phrase, or some kind of loud sound effect (the sound of breaking glass at the start of Steve Austin's theme easily being the most prominent example).

A complaint most infamously leveled against Hulk Hogan, and later at John Cena. Tends to get invoked against any Face champion who is dominant enough, though.

The Ultimate Warrior is arguably the prime example of this trope. He only has a handful of clean losses on record. Not even Hulk Hogan could stop him (without cheating, that is).

Bill Goldberg plays the trope straight, but was rarely vilified for it. In fact, his 170-plus-match winning streak in WCW was one of the reasons the company was so popular.

Invincible Villain: Triple H, from 2002-2005. Ditto for Jeff Jarrett from 2003-2006, so much that fans called him "Triple J" and chanted for him to "DROP THE TITLE!" whenever he appeared.

Improbable Weapon User: There is no farm implement, piece of furniture, musical instrument, or article of clothing that hasn't doubled as a weapon at least once (probably twice — there's almost nothing original in wrestling):

This trope often plays out between a valet/manager, the wrestler who is romantically entangled with said valet, and a 3rd person who is often the wrestler being managed by the valet or someone who keeps rescuing the valet from attacks by opponents of the boy/girlfriend.

Triple H, Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon name dropped the trope several times when Triple H became jealous of the attention Kurt and Stephanie were paying each other when Kurt kept saving Stephanie from The Rock. Of course, it resulted in a triple threat match with The Rock for the WWF Championship, at SummerSlam in 2000.

Large Ham: Mostly the wrestlers, but more than a few of the announcers are guilty of this, especially when dealing with a wrestler or faction they show particular favoritism towards. If a wrestler can't talk, they're often given a manager who can.

Leotard of Power: An older wrestling costume design that still shows up nowadays every once in a while.

Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Have you seen the build-up to some of these high-profile matches? CMLL's Super Libre, ROH's Fight Without Honor and EVOLVE's End Of Evolution are more so agreements to not fight like Gentlemen.

Blame it on socio-economic distribution. The southern booking philosophy could still work in wrestling today. It would also produce shows that fewer TV networks would be willing to air.

Chikara is a good example of family-friendly wrestling that doesn't alienate kids or insult the intelligence of adult fans. NXT is also an all-ages product that works well. Its primary demographic is the more-cliquey wrestling fans, but they can do that while being PG and having characters that still appeal to kids, like Becky Lynch and Bayley.

You can discuss how kayfabe stuck it out longer in the south, but it was equally in relation to which areas had blue-collar, working class people. Vince Sr.'s WWF could be quite brutal as it ran in front of a lot of migrant fans (Poles, Italians, Irish, etc...), while The Sheik's territory in Detroit had its share of blood. In contrast the West Coast/Flyover states were more technical and cleaned up, while in the south where there were a lot of mining towns and post-Depression communities that knew a hard life and what a hard fight looked like. (Which is still the case today in Appalachia, where coal mining is the only thing feeding a lot of communities). So, when you're wrestling in front of two hundred ornery miners who know how a face looks when you punch it just right...

On the topic of WWE: The "PG Era" worked when Cena was champion, but may soon be coming to a close — now that the company has tried (and failed) to work the same magic with Cena imitators.

Living Legend: Bruno Sammartino was called "The Living Legend." Larry Zbyszko appropriated the name as "The New Living Legend" during a feud. Chris Jericho referred to himself as a living legend during his Undisputed WWF championship reign after he unified the WWF and WCW world titles. Other wrestlers/workers who have been labeled (unofficially) as such: Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Jim Ross, John Cena, The Rock.

Aside from Sammartino, it's generally accepted that the three living legends of the three main wrestling regions are Lou Thesz (America), El Santo (Mexico) and Rikidozan (Japan).

Lovable Rogue: The Rock, Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero at the end of his life.

Made of Iron: Pretty much anyone who steps in the ring. Just cause actions are done in cooperation doesn't mean hits don't hurt like hell (which is a common misconception among the "You know it's fake, right?" crowd). A wrestler who can't take a lot of punishment is in the wrong line of work.

Motive Rant: This is very common whenever a wrestler undergoes a Face–Heel Turn. The next week after, they will often tell the fans why they did what they did to a face wrestler, whether it's being tired of living under their shadow, because they are sick of the fans and the locker room not giving them respect, or simply because they can.

Multiple Demographic Appeal: Wrestling fandom is like chickenpox: you get it when you're young, and it can come back stronger than ever as shingles when you're an adult, but it never truly goes away.

Somewhat surprisingly, you don't have to have tremendous physical strength to execute a number of non-luchador moves. Part of this is the fact that a large number of moves require (or are more safely performed with) the cooperation of the person getting slammed or what have you.

Take Shawn Michaels, for instance. He looked pretty scrawny compared to most other main-eventers, but he could still execute a scoop slam on the 270-pound Triple H. Ditto for Stacy Keibler.

Triple H is a great example. During his career, he's stood roughly 6'4, weighing around 270 pounds and is as muscular as almost any other wrestler you can think of. Despite this, he doesn't use power moves and isn't billed as being any stronger than the average male wrestler.

Cesaro averts the trope. He's roughly average-sized (but extremely toned) for a wrestler, but was at one point able to lift The Big Show for a scoop slam over the top rope to win a Battle Royal.

Taz(z) is an aversion as well. A stout 5'9, 230 or so pounds, he was known as The Human Suplex Machine, and would make a habit of throwing around men much larger than he.

Never Heard That One Before: Mention you like wrestling around a group of people, and someone will tell you the not-so-surprising news that wrestling is fake. Played straight, as they will seriously think you're not aware of this.

No Such Thing as H.R.: A contract dispute with the boss? A love triangle with another wrestler and his girlfriend? Suspicions of trying to stage a hostile takeover of the company? There's only way to settle something like that... in the ring!

Oh, Crap!: Typically seen when the Heel finally comes face to face with a Face he's been trying to avoid... or when just about anyone goes one on one with The Undertaker (although, in kayfabe, many wrestlers attempt to avert the trope against Undertaker, so as not to allow him to be fueled by their fear).

Older Than Dirt: Wrestling is the oldest game/sport in the world. Modern Professional Wrestling is at least older than television, with some arguing it to be as old as radio. There is evidence of worked matches as far back as the mid 1800s, though until 1920 it's impossible to tell just how much was legit or worked.

Painted-On Pants: Traditionally associated with female wrestlers, but it became more common on men, who traditionally didn't wear pants of any kind, as time went on. Depending on the region, there were actually laws about how much skin an athlete could show, usually more strictly applied to females, either in distribution (no legs led to such "pants") or overall (which usually lead to tights with Leotard of Power).

Pec Flex: Trust us. This trope is pretty popular in professional wrestling.

Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Mini-Estrellas, Mexican promotions CMLL and AAA having the most famous rosters of them with Mascarita Sagrada being particularly popular. Anyone under a certain height, most commonly 153 CM, can be a Mini-Estrella. Often times a young mini-estrella will hit a growth spurt and have to leave the division but sometimes a short adult, such as a dwarf, will become popular enough to face larger wrestlers too. AAA even had a "mascot" division made up of tag teams of a large wrestler and a mini version of himself or sometimes a small wrestler and a larger version of himself.

One of the oldest and dirtiest tricks in pro wrestling is to poison an opponent by soaking some fabric on your person in an ether based substance and getting it close to his face during the match. This practice was discontinued as pro wrestling became more corporate and liability concerns were raised.

The "Asian mist", known as the "poison fog" to the Japanese, that was introduced by The Great Kabuki, was initially "just" strong spices, rather than "poison". However, a lore technicolor toxins developed over time, including a baby face version in Yuji Nagata's "blue justice mist".

Popularity Power: Wrestling runs on the fans taking an interest in you rather than liking you. It's an old expression among wrestlers that "it doesn't matter if the fans love you or hate you, as long as they care". John Cena is arguably the codifier for this concept.

DDT: For you gamers out there, I was playing Diablo II the other day and fought the main boss (named Diablo, oddly enough)...I had the fight well in hand. That is, until Diablo got all pissy and broke script, shooting on me with a vicious lightning attack that nearly laid me out legit. I ended up running away so I could suck down some healing potions. Since I was the top face of the promotion, though, I came back and beat the tar out of Diablo for trying to do a Paul Roma '95 on me. I've since been told after the battle that Diablo mouthed off to the bookers backstage and was quickly fired for his unprofessionalism in doing the job. If you're wanting to know where you can see Diablo, look in shareware the indies.

Power Stable: Usually a group of bad guys who get together to help each other win matches, though they can form for other reasons, such as Drew Gulak's campaign to sanitize CZW or Right To Censor enforcing censorship on the WWF.

Power Trio: While they have probably always existed in Professional Wrestling to some capacity and the NWA did it about ten years before them in the 60s, it was the Mexican UWA, who oversaw Lucha Libre Internacional, that introduced a division and title belts for "tercias matches" or trios, which was quickly copied by other tvtropess.organization all around the world, including the NWA, who revived their own six man tag team division in the 1980s in direct response. Los Tres Fantásticos are perhaps the most successful ever and definitely the one wanted to duplicate.

Professional wrestling is notorious for the difficulty "small" (as in average-sized) people have making a break in it. Perhaps the most famous example is Jushin Thunder Liger, whom dojos in Japan refused to train after deeming him 'diminutive' despite his height being the national average. A later example would be the Minnesota Stretching Crew, both members of which had the same strength and weakness as performers (highly athletic, charisma deficient) with Shelton Benjamin having the higher work rate of the two. Brock Lesnar was larger though, so he got pushed immediately after their breakup and got to go over Shelton multiple times when they were at odds.

Being a big dude is half the battle. On his podcasts, Steve Austin said that someone once advised him: "This business is all about big upper bodies. So long as you're still in proportion, no one will care", and Hogan was once quoted as saying, "big arms equals big paychecks." Look at all the stars from the late 80s and early 90s, and they've all got wide shoulders, big chests, huge arms and—with the exception of a few—not-great legs. Since the business used to be about Greek-style godlike humans (albeit with not-so-godlike acting) going to war, most of the guys where big, over the top, and blond-haired. That all changed due to the Attitude Era and the influence of ECW, though you can still see it today with guys like John Cena and Rob Terry. It's well known to be Vince McMahon's Author Appeal, and the reason why he's always trying to get Cena over, and why Vince himself put on a ton of muscle when he got into the ring for the first time.

Promoted Fanboy: The industry basically runs on this. A quite large portion of wrestlers during any given time period got into it after having watched a wrestling event or television show as a kid.

Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: While WWE didn't invent this trope, they certainly revel in it—just ask The Rock ("If ya suh-mellllll....what the ROCK....is....COOKING!") or Booker T ("Can you dig it....SUCKA?!) or especially the guy who stamped his whole meal ticket with this trope, Mr. Kennedy ("MMMMMisterrrrrr....Kennedy....KEN-NE-DY!"). It's also a pretty good bet that, at least in WWE, every heavyweight champion will state that he's the "World. Heavyweight. CHAMPION" at least once during his reign.

Also, any executive character who sides with a major heel group. Eric Bischoff's heel turn to the nWo on the November 18, 1996 WCW Monday Nitro is likely the first example of this.

In CHIKARA, Derek Sabato did this twice, as the liaison for the BDK and again for GEKIDO.

Rage Quit: Via intentional disqualification (or count out) by the (usually) Heel champion who knows the (usually) Face challenger has them beat. Often leads to a "Title changes hands via DQ (or count out)" stipulation being added to a rematch so as to prevent this. Sometimes, though, this doesn't need to happen in a match. For some reason, Batista comes to mind...

Wrestlers' real-life issues often provide fodder for their self-based characters' wrestling storylines. One of the most famous examples is the Matt Hardy/Edge feud: Edge stole Matt's girlfriend (Lita) while he was out with an injury (and subsequently released by WWE); when Matt returned, his first feud was with Edge, and much ado was made of the Edge/Lita/Matt triangle.

His brother Jeff's drug issues were also used as the basis of Jeff's feud with the Straight EdgeCM Punk.

The Rival: Since their primordial foundations collar-and-elbow along with catch-as-catch-can have competed with the 'sport' of 'prize fighting' for viewership. Most of pro wrestling's development, such as moving away from wrestling itself to fights and eventually decided outcomes before the fact were in response to boxing's own developments and popularity. On the other hand, boxing and pro wrestling were governed by the same athletic commissions in the USA prior to the NWA's rise and remained governed by the same in Mexico even afterwards.

Rule of Cool: Some moves done during matches, which are depicted as being basically the equivalent of a noogie, can actually injury people if not done in controlled conditions. If a snapmare was applied the way wrestlers do it in an uncontrolled environment, it would cripple most people. A reverse chinlock can snap tendons in the neck. Again, in professional wrestling these moves are about as effective as a noogie.

Rule of Funny: The purpose of "exoticos" in Lucha Libre, who are more about demasculizing the opponent than hurting him. Several moves such as Delirious's face wash work entirely on this rule.

Rule of Three: In pro wrestling, the number three comes up in many instances. A three-count is necessary for a win, many moves are done in threes (triple suplexes, for example). Also, many times, a wrestler will perform three identical strikes in a row as a filler sequence before being countered or transitioning into a follow-up sequence.

Self-Deprecation: The Hurricane may be a parody of the almost cartoonish characters of the 80s.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: It's common for guys and girls in the business to be told they won't succeed or they can't draw for whatever reason, so they don't get booked in storylines or get to have matches, so they don't get over. Sometimes the bookers will throw them a bone and say, "Okay, prove to us you can be a hit with fans," and throw them into a match with no build up and no significance, often against someone it's clear they won't beat (like a midcard champion) so the crowd has no reason to care about the match and will go dead during it, making the bookers think they were right and the wrestler will never be hot, proving they shouldn't get a push, and because the wrestler doesn't get a push they can't get the fans' interest, meaning it's extremely hard for them to break out of this cycle. Aside from happening with individual wrestlers, this same effect can also happen with entire divisions and styles of wrestling - such as Cruiserweight divisions, Women's divisions, or lucha-style wrestling in the USA.

There is absolutely no situation that cannot be resolved with a wrestling match on PAY PER VIEW! ORDER NOW!

Kayfabe, in the old days, was major Serious Business, with at least one instance of a wrestler losing a court case because he would not break kayfabe, even under oath.

Then there's the Fan Dumb. Everything from what qualifies as a "world title" to how seriously wrestling should take itself. The fact that wrestling draws upon the framework of a sport while actually being entertainment creates a lot of this thinking, since fans often try to see some kind of order or hierarchy that doesn't exist.

Often used with the female manager/valet — see Miss Elizabeth in the 2-on-3 match at SummerSlam 1988 for when used minimally for maximum effect. Taken to the extreme during the Attitude Era (and similar on WCW) with Stacy Keibler and her 42 inches of "'nuff said."

In a rare male example, an anecdote exists that cites the reason for The Miz switching from capri shorts to trunks: Vince McMahon thought he had nice legs that he should show off.

Spanish Announcers Table: The table where the broadcasters for the Spanish-speaking audience sit to do their commentary became famous for, as a rule, gets demolished by a wrestling move at least once a pay-per-view. It has been even confirmed that, unlike the English team's, the table is specially designed to collapse upon impact.

Smart Mark: Or "Smark" as it's often abbreviated is the name given to the fans who know that wrestling is staged, but enjoy it anyway. However, since practically every fan falls into that category these days, the term has changed somewhat and now refers to a hardcore wrestling fan who has a passing knowledge of the inner workings of the business and cares more about in-ring performance than storylines.

Spot Monkey: Term to describe a wrestler who does moves simply because they look cool rather than because they make sense at any given moment. They are also known for selling poorly.

Slut-Shaming: Zig-zagged sometimes. "Slut" and variations on it are popular chant against heel divas, like in the cases of Eve Torres, Stephanie McMahon, and Lita. At other times, the heels will be prudes (like Right to Censor or Molly Holly) and the faces will be defiantly stripping for the audience.

Tag Team: Every tag team match ever, starting with Tiger Daula and Fazul Mohammed vs. Whiskers Savage and Milo Steinborn in Houston, TX on October 2, 1936 and continuing all the way to today. In Mexico parejas are less "tag" though, as simply exiting the ropes allows a partner to come in.

Literalized by WCW starting in 1993 with the infamous "Disney tapings," when they did huge TV tapings for their syndicated weekend show WCW Worldwide, at a studio at Disney World in Orlando. These tapings served to give away title changes and other storyline developments months in advance, exposing the business and essentially etching everything in stone. This also meant that WCW drew ZERO dollars at the gate.

TNA took this even further, doing both their weekly TV show AND their "PPVs" at Universal Studios, also drawing zero dollars at the gate.

More like "There Are No Female Wrestling Fans", and if there are, the assumption is that they're shrieking fangirls who don't know a Sharpshooter from a suplex.

Completely and utterly averted and destroyed with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. During the '70s and '80s, tag teams like the Beauty Pair and Crush Gals enjoyed massive mainstream popularity among girls to the point where arenas were packed mainly with screaming girls.

Also the majority of Hardy Boyz fans were screaming young girls, demonstrated by the massive pops they got whenever they removed their shirts during matches. The likes of Lita and Trish Stratus also proved to draw in hundreds of female fans.

Too Dumb to Live: It was all too often during WCW's nWo era (and, to be sure probably elsewhere as well) for fans, for whatever reason, to rush into the ring and take a poke at whichever wrestlers were there. This was massively inadvisable for two main reasons; for one, the camera will immediately pan away, denying said fan his 15 seconds of Fame and discouraging anyone else from trying it in the future - "Hey, we can get on TV!" And second, as soon as said fan hits the ring, it gives the wrestlers the legal right to defend themselves against whatever shenanigans he's trying to pull. In other words, they can beat the shit out of you and not face any consequences for it.

Underwear of Power: You want a list? Too many to count. This has its roots in the carnival and circus strong men, which is why the mawashi, singlets, and other clothing or lack there of otherwise associated with wrestling are less common here.

From least to greatest, closed fists, eye pokes, biting, choking, using the opponent's clothing for leverage, not giving a clean break from the ring ropes, strikes to the groin, using foreign objects, ripping off a luchador's mask and outside interference are grounds for disqualification in professional wrestling.

Chikara takes it a step forward with the "castigo excesivo" rule allowing the referee to disqualify based on anything deemed "excessive punishment".

Wag the Director: Savvy wrestlers who can no longer work without risk of permanent injury can cultivate other opportunities as a trainer, commentator, or — most ominously — booker. The SOP goes as follows:

This can also apply literally in real life. "The audience isn't the marks, we're the marks" is an old wrestler's joke.

Bob Holly: I think wrestling today would be better if Eric Bischoff had managed to buy out WCW and keep it going. Competition is good for the industry and was definitely better for the wrestlers. For a few years, we were in a position to get paid better. I still don't feel we were ever paid entirely fairly. Both companies were making so much money that they could have afforded to pay the boys a lot more...

Some try to make their personas more interesting by incorporating a second job. Sometimes it is real, such as Paul Bearer the mortician; sometimes it is just for show, such as Honky Tonk Man; and sometimes the job pays so poorly that they're forced to apply for food stamps, like Jesse Neal.

Paul Bearer: The promoters are the ones who actually prostitute the young talent. They know how much the kids want to wrestle, and will have them drive for hours, set up their ring and not even offer then a hamburger muchless gas money. It is a damn crying shame, taking advantage of the unknowing just to pad their pocketbooks.

Notoriously averted. WWF/E has gained a reputation for welcoming athletes of all ethnic backgrounds since the success of Antonino Rocca, Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, the Wild Samoans, The Soul Patrol, etc, but it's still one of the most goyish entertainment franchises in history. In the past 20 years or so, Goldberg (in WCW and WWE) and Raven (Scott Levy) (in ECW and TNA to a degree) are the only prominent Jews to really have reached main event status. Scotty Goldman (a.k.a. Colt Cabana) famously quit the company after enduring anti-Semitic harassment from his trainer, and Paul Heyman has been outspoken in his condemnation of latent anti-Semitism in the wrestling business.

Although in this case there is a sensible reason for this, as wrestling events normally occur on Friday, Saturday and Sundays nights, Jews who follow Shabbat simply tend not to become professional wrestlers as they can only work 1/3 of the shows other wrestlers do.

However, when Paul Heyman was doing color for Raw in 2001, he made references to being Jewish nearly every week. Perhaps the best was when J.R. asked him if he'd ever had BBQ sauce on a bagel. Or when Paul insisted on calling Albert (Matt "Tensai" Bloom, who himself is Jewish)'s finishing move the Meshuginator every week. He once called Molly Holly a "shiksa" (a derogatory Yiddish word for a non-Jewish woman, which Molly is.) Jerry Lawler once remarked in the mid 1990s that he thought judo was what bagels were made from. Heyman was also referred to as a "Creative Rabbi" in the Universe 3.0 trailer for WWE '13.

"Pure Wrestling" vs "Sports Entertainment" is an ongoing debate and is a completely nonsensical debate to those more familiar with common language than pro wrestling terminology. In the sense of just wrestling without gouging, striking, choking, fish hooking, etc., literal "pure wrestling" shows were on their way out by the 1940s. What it usually means here is focus on workrate and in ring action, heavy emphasis on plausible grappling and stiff striking, strict enforcement of rules and regulations or some combination there of. Very rarely does reduction of tactics not associated with traditionally wrestling also apply. Meanwhile pretty much all sports industries have doubled as entertainment industries since the 1500s. "Sports entertainment" here usually refers to the booking philosophies of Vince McMahon or Kodo Fuyuki, which can be summarized as a greater focus on angles, gimmicks and charisma with less care given to workrate, technical wrestling, stiffness or regulation. The most extreme forms of "pure wrestling" tend to look more like fights than wrestling and the most extreme forms of "sports entertainment" look more like violent soap operas than sports. The "sports entertainment" approach has its roots in the "theater" style of promotion Jack Pfefer introduced in 1934.

Independent/Indie also has different connotations in pro wrestling than it otherwise would in conversations about something else. It is mostly used to describe small promotions, as even if you are owned by a television company rather than independently, such as when ROH was purchased by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, you'll still be considered "indie" until you draw 10,000 people without help from another promotion and or gain a major network TV deal. FMW was independently owned but during its heyday when it drew 50,000 and was considered "too big" to be called "indie".

Has become a standby for Money in the Bank winners. The big fan-favorite face has just retained his championship title in a grueling effort against all odds - and, often enough, against multiple opponents. Thinking the battle is finally over, he lifts the belt triumphantly above his head to the delirious cheers of the crowd. But....not so fast, bucko! An ominous entrance theme blares over the P.A. and the face's mortal enemy - the promotion's most dastardly heel - struts into the arena carrying his Money in the Bank championship opportunity contract, which he has acquired either fairly or not. The big main-event match starts all over again as the heel cashes in his contract and - following a brave but futile effort by the exhausted face - gets a pinfall to become the new World Champion.

Only a couple of people have announced before hand when they would cash in the briefcase and stick to it; the first person being Rob Van Dam, who had a legitimate full-length title match with John Cena at ECW One Night Stand. The second; none other than John Cena, who cashed in his briefcase for a full-length title match with CM Punk on the 1000th episode of WWE Raw. He also became the first to cash in the briefcase and not win the title. Daniel Bryan said after he won Money in the Bank that he would wait and cash it at WrestleMania. Then he became the punching bag for Mark Henry during his feud with The Big Show, and at TLC after Henry's and Show's match cashed his contract in, claiming that the experience had made him realize he may not even make it to WrestleMania, and therefore passing by opportunities presenting themselves right then was foolish.

Inverted when CM Punk did this to Edge using the Money in the Bank contract. This time it was the face using the contract at the opportune moment. Punk later lampshades this, stating that had he done it to anyone but Edge, he would have been perceived as the bad guy. Edge had won a title using the exact same tactic twice, so this was seen as karma coming back to bite him.

And then hilariously averted in 2011, also by CM Punk, when Alberto Del Rio came down to cash in his contract, Punk kicked him in the back of the head before the referee had the chance to ring the bell.

Music

Momoiro Clover Z, an obscure Japanese Idol group whose gimmicks revolve around professional wrestling and Toku, they're even appearing on an actual match as Keiji Mutoh's allies. In return, several NJPW casts also appear as guests in their live concerts.

Insane Clown Posse have wrestled, licensing a video game and eventually starting their own promotion.

Filipino rock groups Parokya Ni Edgar and Kamikazee have a collaboration single titled "The Ordertaker". Its music video has the bands dressing as several WWE superstars.

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